Organic and fair trade production revitalize cocoa industry in São Tome and Principe
More than a decade ago, cocoa producers in Sao Tome and Principe were suffering because of falling global prices for cocoa. Many of them abandoned their cocoa plantations, while others cut down the trees to clear land for maize or other crops. Thanks to IFAD and its partners, nearly 2,200 farmers are now growing cocoa certified as organic or fair-trade for the international chocolate industry.
Read full story

Innovative food bank keeps families together by helping them through the `hunger season'
In Niger, a combination of recurrent drought and widespread poverty leaves the most vulnerable people unable to cope when environmental shocks occur. Now, a new type of food bank provides poor farmers with access to cereal grains when there are seasonal or unexpected food shortages. These banks, managed exclusively by women, are improving nutrition, keeping families together and accruing interest in the form of grain in the warehouses. They have sustained many households in the Maradi area through the recent drought and food crisis, which has seen cereal production drop by nearly a third.
Read full story

From lighter loads to better business: empowering rural women in Kenya
“When women come together, they are powerful,” says Frida Wanjiru Mwai, a 45 year-old farmer, who has six children, and lives in the village of Kiuu, in the Nyeri South District of Central Province. As a girl she watched women in her village mobilize to replace traditional thatched roofs with waterproof corrugated iron. The memory of this collective effort led her to form a women’s group in 2002 to buy water storage tanks that were too expensive to purchase individually. She and her friends pooled together and bought the tanks for each member in rotation.
Read full story

From zero-grazing to zero poverty: smallholder dairy commercialization in Kenya
The fields are ploughed in preparation for the rains, which have been late in coming. In much of Kenya, and especially in dry areas such as the Western and Rift Valley Provinces, rural people’s livelihoods hang in the balance during these periods of drought. Scrawny-looking cattle and other livestock pick over the dry scrub at the roadsides in search of food. Milk production plummets along with harvests. For many livestock farmers these times are as lean as their cattle.
Read full story

Wheelbarrows, a road and a future: South Pacific islanders rediscover their power to change their lives
Remote Pacific Island communities face increasing socio-economic and environmental uncertainty. The breakdown of traditional community structures has removed an important social safety net. But islanders are reasserting control of their economic and social well-being and achieving spectacular results with the help of an IFAD-supported programme.
Read full story

Organics: the key to helping Pacific agriculture conquer new markets
In the Pacific Islands, farmers have traditionally used organic farming methods, but because their produce was not officially certified, they were unable to enter the US$18 billion global market. Now, with the help of new regional organic standards, a growing number of island farmers are getting a good price for their produce in international markets, improving life for themselves and their families.
Read full story

Island groups reap the benefits of a new Pacific agricultural centre
A new agricultural research centre is helping Pacific islanders fight the effects of climate change and feed their people. Its work in crop production and improving soil fertility under island conditions offers benefits not just for the Pacific region, but for island groups throughout the world.
Read full story

Leading by example: young Yemeni women teach their communities key skills
Two remarkable young women born in one of the driest, poorest countries in the world are showing their families and their communities the way out of poverty. Ibtsam and Sabah live in the Dhamar Governorate of Yemen, where up to 70 per cent of the population in highland villages lives on less than two dollars a day.
Read full story

International Women's day: Honouring the resilience of Haitian women
International Women's day celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women . In most developing countries, women produce the bulk of the world’s food crops. Yet women face greater constraints than men, and lack the means, the services and the opportunities to increase their yields and their earnings. This year, the UN theme for the day is “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.”
After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, time and again we witnessed how the women of Haiti took things in hand and provided the necessary for their families, friends and their community.
Read full story

Boosting knowledge and financial security in Peru
Increasing the knowledge and assets of poor families is an effective way to fight poverty. An innovative IFAD-supported project in the southern highlands of Peru provides grants directly to small producers and to farmers’ organizations so they can develop new income opportunities. Project activities are helping participants better manage natural resources and gain access to Internet services, financial services and insurance.
Read full story

Reclaiming land and sea: community resource management in the Philippines
Environmental degradation, diminishing food productivity and high population growth are common problems in rural areas of northern and central Mindanao in the Philippines. An IFAD-funded project is demonstrating that an integrated, holistic approach to development, driven by the communities themselves, can generate substantial and lasting change.
Read full story

Rewarding poor rural people for nurturing the land
Poor rural people manage vast areas of land and forest. They have the potential to be important players in protecting natural resources and providing important environmental services. An IFAD-supported project has helped build momentum and public interest in rewards for environmental services and has developed ways to offer incentives to poor farmers who protect ecosystems at the national level in China, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, the Philippines and Viet Nam.
Read full story

Sanduq: A rural microfinance innovation in Syria
A local microfinance institution provides small loans for poor rural people, with particular attention to women. The success rate of the small businesses that have sprung up because of these loans has been astonishing.
Read full story

In post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, women are a driving force for change
IFAD’s first two projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina responded to the need for emergency assistance in a country devastated by war. Once that need diminished, IFAD’s third project marked a transition from immediate relief and rehabilitation to long-term sustainable development, helping stimulate growth in farming-related and non-agricultural rural businesses. The project gave special attention to youth and to women, who with training and microfinance services, were able to kick-start small businesses that are benefiting their communities.
Read full story

Indigenous cultural communities working to take the lead
Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment levels are high among the 18 indigenous groups that live in Mindanao. The IFAD-funded Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives Resource Management Project has helped empower tribes to take the lead in the education of their children and in their own self-governance – two important routes to a better future.
Read full story

Stimulating development through a poverty alleviation fund
The Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives and Resource Management Project helped develop the abilities of poor rural communities to play an active role in their own economic and social development. One way the project achieved this was by setting up a poverty alleviation fund in selected municipalities. The fund provided a combination of seed money and much-needed credit to organized groups of poor producers, fishers, indigenous peoples and women who had, with project assistance, developed viable plans for sustainable livelihoods.
Read full story

Efforts supporting peace and development in Western Mindanao
A small IFAD-funded grant project in Western Mindanao took up the challenge of helping former combatants return to civilian life not long after decades of conflict had formally ended. The project provided life skills and technical support to participants, helping them win acceptance in their villages as productive and peaceful farmers and fishers.
Read full story

Developing small enterprises with savings and credit support
One of the objectives of IFAD-funded operations is to strengthen communities so that can determine their own needs and mobilize resources to meet them. Small enterprise development and credit are central to this endeavour. Working with farmers, women and indigenous groups, IFAD and its partners have helped change the attitudes and economies of villages and municipalities in southern Philippines, even in areas affected by conflict.
Read full content

How farmers' field schools transform the lives of farmers in Zanzibar
Teaching poor farmers better ways to produce poultry and vegetables helps them increase their incomes and improve their families’ living conditions. Through farmers’ field schools, small-scale producers learn new methods and share useful experiences, joining in groups to make the most of their agricultural potential. Two IFAD-funded programmes support more than 200 farmers’ field schools in Zanzibar, working to empower small-scale farmers to overcome poverty.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Rebuilding Eritrea's livestock sector and helping farmers meet the challenges of the future
In drought-prone Eritrea, livestock is a farmer’s most valuable asset. Animal husbandry is not only one of the main sources of livelihood for farmers, but it is also a form of insurance that enables poor rural people to cope with drought and other disasters. IFAD-funded projects invest in rebuilding livestock and the agriculture sector, and help Eritrean farmers meet the challenges of climate change and its effects on their lives and their livelihoods. 
Source: IFAD
Read full story

A special breed of Sudanese cattle produces more milk and big benefits for Eritrean pastoralists
Cattle of the Sudanese Hamerenya breed have some special qualities, including docility and a high milk yield. Through an IFAD-supported programme, farmers in the Adi Quala subdistrict in Eritrea were able to take out small loans to invest in the purchase of Hamerenya cattle. The programme also helps the farmers manage the livestock effectively, safeguarding their investment.
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

Liquid gold helps Eritrean farmers defy the looming threat of drought
Bee-keeping is an alternative source of income for rural families, especially in times of drought, when food security is at risk. Luul, an Eritrean farmer, has learned how to keep bees and avoid their sting, and now he is content with his livelihood of producing honey, or liquid gold. IFAD funded operations in Eritrea encourage farmers to diversify their income-generating activities — producing honey, dairy products or livestock to sell — and provide the financing, training and support they need.
Read full story

Using biogas technology, farmers in Eritrea help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Biogas provides poor rural women and men in developing countries with clean and renewable energy all year round. Electricity generated by biogas lights the lamps that allow children to study in the evening. It frees women from the time-consuming chore of collecting firewood and enables them to undertake value-added activities. And thanks to biogas fuel, rural kitchens are now free of smoke and ash, for a healthier household environment. As fertilizer,  the organic residue that is an end-product of the biogas process boosts the productivity of agricultural plots. In Eritrea, IFAD helps farmers build biogas units and reap the benefits of green technology.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

An ancient form of water management helps farmers in Eritrea cope with water scarcity
Water is precious in Eritrea, where farmers have to cope with droughts and crop failures. With support from the government and an IFAD-funded project, farmers and herders are expanding spate irrigation, an ancient form of water management. By harnessing floodwaters and collecting run-off, farmers can provide enough water for the crop season. Now some farmers can obtain yields that are six times what they used to be.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Eritrea women entrepreneurs bring additional income to their families
Women have always had an important role in Eritrean society. During the struggle for independence they helped transform Eritrean society, and today rural women contribute substantially to the agriculture sector and provide income for their households.
Like women around the world and especially those in developing countries, the women in Eritrea’s Gash Barka region start the day’s activities bright and early. They not only do the household chores, but are also fully engaged in agricultural activities.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

A Tanzanian Mother Teresa is born: Pauline Samata, the "bamboo saint"
The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) estimates that approximately 1.5 billion people depend in some way or another on bamboo and rattan. Bamboo not only is deemed to be the fastest growing plant on the planet, it also is a viable replacement for wood, an essential structural material in earthquake architecture and a renewable source for agroforesty production. These characteristics make bamboo unique in terms of its potential contribution to sustainable development. What is less well known is the fact that bamboo has helped protect young Tanzanian girls and women from HIV/AIDS by saving them from the trap of prostitution. This is thanks to a Tanzanian woman by the name of Pauline Samata.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Mauritius: eradicating rural poverty in paradise
Located in the Mascarene Islands, the Republic of Mauritius includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues. The islands are known for their natural beauty: white beaches, crystal-clear turquoise-colored water and spectacular lagoons with magnificent coral reefs. These natural attractions have made the islands a tourist destination and the hub of a thriving tourist industry. Since Mauritius gained independence in 1968, it has adopted sound economic policies and has risen from the rank of a low-income country to occupy a place among the middle-income countries. The government has a policy of medium-term expenditure budgeting and is implementing a programme-based budget.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Rodrigues Island, Mauritius: Soaring food and fuel prices eat into poor people’s livelihoods
The fish stock in the spectacular lagoon of the island of Rodrigues is becoming depleted. As a result, octopus fishers like Lima Casmir need to find alternative sources of income.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Improving quality and incomes for sheep and goat farmers in Lesotho
In the rugged terrain of Lesotho’s uplands, farmers raise sheep and goats for their wool, supplying an important national industry and providing a major export. But without information, better organization and basic infrastructure, small-scale sheep and goat farmers are unable to lift themselves out of a subsistence existence and obtain better prices for their wool. In addition to building woolsheds in remote areas, an IFAD-funded programme is training farmers in improved animal health as well as care and management of the grasslands their herds feed on. Thanks to these inputs, farmers should soon be getting substantially better prices for their wool in the marketplace.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Community centres: a catalyst for bringing people together
The IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme has a strong focus on community-driven development, in which communities take on increasing responsibility for managing their own development. This includes responsibility for the design and implementation of projects. The success of community-driven development requires that the communities build their capacity to take on responsibility. It also requires a culture of public administration that views communities as development partners in their own right rather than simply as recipients of benefits through public expenditure.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

A successful public/private partnership: vegetable oil production in Uganda
It is quite a challenge to develop a major domestic industry that brings public and private investors together and also nurtures the interests of small-scale producers. An IFAD-funded project in Uganda is rising to that challenge by helping to forge a highly innovative partnership between small-scale producers of palm oil and a private sector operator. With the project’s support Uganda has progressed in a decade from almost total dependence on vegetable oil imports to development of a thriving domestic production sector that has a promising potential for foreign trade. And the country has seen a significant improvement in people’s nutrition as well.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Microfinance in Ethiopia - mapping a way out of poverty
In a country where almost half of the population barely survives on less than a dollar a day, microcredit offers poor people a unique opportunity to engage in small businesses or improve their agricultural production. With the support of IFAD, microfinance institutions such as the Amhara Credit and Saving Institution (ACSI) extend small loans to poor people in rural areas to help them improve their incomes and overcome poverty.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Revolving livestock scheme in Burundi
Burundi’s devastating civil war left rural communities to face the loss of many family members and of almost all of their livestock as well. The country’s depleted soils barely secure adequate yields and, without fertilizers, farmers struggle to meet basic subsistence requirements. Working through community-based organizations, the IFAD-supported Rural Recovery and Development Programme (PRDMR) introduced an innovative revolving livestock scheme that helps increase incomes by using livestock manure to fertilize the land and boost crop productivity.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Coffee from Rwanda: savouring a dream
Coffee production is a traditional source of income for many Rwandans. But in the aftermath of civil war and the 1944 genocide, most coffee growers had to start again from scratch. An IFAD-financed project gave them a hand, helping them organize into cooperatives and gain access to Europe’s lucrative fair trade markets. The project not only led to a substantial increase in their income, but it also contributed to the national reconciliation process.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Casting the net beyond the lagoon
Overfishing in the lagoons of Mauritius and Rodrigues has a destructive effect on the coral reef and the marine life it harbours. To increase the incomes of small-scale fishers and relieve pressure on depleted marine resources, the IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme has encouraged fishers to give up lagoon fishing.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

A loan, a lamb and a livelihood in Tunisia
Women in Tunisia, as in many parts of the developing world, are slowly gaining power through development projects. A first, crucial step is their participation in community organizations and groups. When IFAD launched the Zaghouan Integrated Agricultural Development Project in 1998, group formation was a prerequisite for project activities. Special efforts were made to bring as many women as possible into these groups, where members decide which activities best meet their needs. Helping women acquire more confidence and authority, as well as training in new skills, means they are able to earn more and to transform their lives.
Read full story

Living with elephants: human-wildlife conflict in the Mount Kenya area
Smallholder farmers living in the buffer zone around the Mount Kenya National Park and Forest Reserve have struggled for years with the elephants that regularly invade their land and destroy their crops. An IFAD-supported project will help strengthen efforts already being made by the Kenya Wildlife Services to find ways of protecting wildlife and farming communities, and the natural resources that both depend upon.
Read full story

Cassava: turning a subsistence crop into a cash crop in Western and Central Africa
Cassava is one of the world’s most important food crops. Throughout the tropics, its roots and leaves provide essential calories – and income. Some 600 million people in Africa, Asia and Latin American depend on cassava – also known as yuca and manioc – for their survival. A number of IFAD-supported projects in Western and Central Africa have helped farmers improve yields. However, simply boosting production can lead to a glut of cassava on the market. This can depress prices and discourage farmers from investing in and cultivating this fundamental crop. IFAD is focusing on a region-wide effort to address processing and marketing challenges in its cassava-related projects.
Read full story

Reversing environmental degradation through cooperation in Morocco
Nowhere is the link between the environment and poverty more pronounced than in highly fragile ecosystems, where inhabitants are often compelled to degrade natural resources as they struggle to survive on inhospitable land. IFAD’s drive to break this vicious cycle has led to the development of a number of replicable models for sustainable land use. A striking example is the Livestock and Pasture Development Project in the Eastern Region of Morocco, which introduced an innovative approach to collective land management with impressive results.
Read full story

Self-sufficiency and beyond: resource management in North-east India
Widespread environmental degradation in the north-eastern region of India is aggravating poverty and food security, and forcing rural people to exploit dwindling resources to meet subsistence requirements. An IFAD-supported project has introduced a new model for sustainable management of the resource base. Now communities care for the environment, and have learned to make use of natural resources to improve livelihoods and ensure that the land will continue to provide for future generations.
Read full story

Remittances: spreading the benefits in El Salvador
For generations, poor people around the world have left their homes to seek better wages abroad. Today, the money they send home totals an estimated US$200 billion a year. In Latin America, remittances are worth more than direct foreign investment, official development assistance and foreign aid combined. They have a huge potential to reduce rural poverty. With this in mind, IFAD is exploring ways to lower the transaction costs of sending money home and is working with governments to make sure the money is used productively.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Tailor-made: farmer-friendly financial services transform lives in northern Bangladesh
Northern Bangladesh is home to some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable rural people. The area, like the rest of the country, is frequently hit by floods and cyclones. Its smallholder farmers are trapped in poverty, largely excluded from borrowing and knowledge of farming practices that could help improve their lives and protect them from potential risks. An IFAD-supported project in the north-west and north-central regions of the country has introduced financial services customized to the specific needs of poor farming communities. As a result, incomes are improving and rural people are beginning to lift themselves out of poverty.
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

In Argentina, cooperatives show there is strength in numbers
Argentina, a middle-income country, is the third largest producer and second largest exporter of agricultural products in Latin America. But for people living in the country’s remote rural areas there are few opportunities to reap the benefits of this thriving sector. Two IFAD-supported projects in the northeast and northwest regions have worked to help small producers form strong cooperatives to obtain better access to credit and technical assistance and find new markets for their products. With more options at home, fewer young people are migrating to cities in search of work. 
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

Empowering farmers in Tanzania through the warehouse receipt system
When farmers have secure access to credit and reliable storage facilities for their grain, it gives them the option to sell when they can get the best price. This means that in a situation of rising food prices small farmers stand to benefit, not to lose. The warehouse receipt system, introduced through the IFAD-supported Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme in Tanzania, is now being mainstreamed by the government throughout the country.
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

Conserving water, boosting incomes in Jordan’s Yarmouk valley
Jordan is a chronically water-scarce country, and less than five per cent of the land is arable. For farmers, little or no rainfall means severely reduced cultivation and production – and increased hunger and poverty. Those who find other ways to supplement their incomes generally earn very little. To address these challenges, an IFAD-supported project provided farmers with technical and financial assistance to promote soil and water conservation and boost agricultural production. It also helped more than 800 women develop small-scale business enterprises to increase family incomes.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Risks pay off in Colombia microenterprise programme
In 1997, a pilot programme in Colombia to promote rural microcredit was about to close because urban experiences with microcredit were not working in a rural setting. But then IFAD stepped in and encouraged programme staff to innovate and take risks. Ten years later, the programme was considered a model for action and knowledge both nationally and internationally. Its success is a result of an organizational process that succeeded in linking the entire chain, from production to processing to marketing. Phase II is now under way.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Organic and fair trade production revitalize cocoa industry in São Tomé and Príncipe
Only nine years ago, cocoa producers in São Tomé and Príncipe were suffering because of falling global prices for cocoa. Many of them abandoned their cocoa plantations, while others cut down the trees to clear land for maize or other crops. Thanks to IFAD and its partners, nearly 1,200 of them are now growing organic cocoa for the international organic chocolate industry.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Strategic partnerships breathe life and hope into an impoverished community in Brazil
In the semi-arid northeast of Brazil, the IFAD-supported Dom Helder Camara project works with local governments, farmers’ organizations, civil society associations and state companies to improve poor people’s living conditions. Together they have brought safe water to communities, opened new markets for their farm products, trained young people and adults, and helped women obtain identity documents.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Recharging Mount Kenya, the country’s largest water tower
Mount Kenya is a vital source of water for the area’s agriculture, fisheries and livestock production and is strategic to the country’s economic development. But environmental degradation and changes in climate are threatening the mountain that is the country’s ‘largest water tower’. Protecting the environment has become a priority for the government and for local communities. An IFAD-funded project is supporting their efforts to restore vegetation cover, conserve water catchments and sources, and improve farming practices.
Source: IFAD
Read more >

From subsistence farming to profit: the benefits of agro-wells in Sri Lanka
Large, well-constructed ‘agro-wells’ are making farming profitable for farmers living in dry areas of Sri Lanka. Farmers in the dry areas of the district of Matale benefited from the Regional Economic Advancement Project (REAP) from 1999 to 2007. REAP was mostly funded by a loan of US$11.7 million from IFAD to the Government of Sri Lanka. The project had a total budget of US$14.5 million, and benefited some 30,000 households. A major activity of REAP’s subcomponent on soil conservation and water management was assistance to the poorest farmers to enable them to construct agro-wells for irrigation purposes. This activity was started in 2001.
Source: IFAD
Read more

Zero-poverty becomes a reality thanks to effective collaboration in Sichuan, China
Any project that reduces poverty rates from 90 per cent to 1 per cent sounds too good to be true. Yet that is exactly what happened through an IFAD-funded project in Sichuan, China. Even more encouraging is that it happened under extremely challenging conditions. The outstanding success is the result of good project management and strong governmental support for poverty reduction.
Source: IFAD
Read more

China biogas project turns waste into energy
Animal manure is a source of methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas when released to the atmosphere. But methane can also be captured and used as a source of clean, renewable and affordable energy. An IFAD-supported project in China provided about 30,000 poor households with nearly 23,000 ‘biodigester’ tanks for biogas production. As a result, methane emissions dropped, incomes rose and household sanitation and health improved.
Source: IFAD
BBC World documentary featuring IFAD-supported project in China
Read more

Turning the tide on poverty for Mozambique’s artisanal fishers
Fighting rural poverty is a multifaceted challenge. It is about increasing the incomes of poor rural people, and providing them with access to safe water, health and education. It is about transferring knowledge and know-how. And equally important, it is about implementing policies that empower people to overcome poverty themselves. An IFAD-funded project is making headway on all these fronts in Mozambique.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Pioneering microcredit for women in remote Pakistan
Microcredit can provide a much-needed boost to people’s earning power in remote parts of Pakistan. But the hurdles can be substantial, given the social and religious customs that curb lending practices. An IFAD-funded project in the Dir district pioneered a new approach to rural financing that conforms to Islamic regulations. In its initial phase, it helped women set up microenterprises. And in just nine years it demonstrated how economic and social empowerment can transform women’s status and self-esteem.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Nepal’s ‘poorest of the poor’ reap the benefits of innovative leasehold project
In the Middle Hills district of Nepal, an IFAD-funded project has helped reverse environmental degradation and bring people out of poverty. As a result of the project’s impressive impact, the government adopted a leasehold forest policy in 2002 and integrated the approach in its poverty strategy. Now a new project is building on the success of the first, introducing livestock and microfinance components.   
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Restoring peace and improving lives in Mali’s northern regions
Living conditions are precarious in the northern regions of Mali, where social instability and rebellion are a threat to peace. In a difficult environment, the IFAD-funded Zone Lacustre Development Project improved the living conditions of poor people in the northern regions, including many nomadic households, and helped restore peace in the area.
Read full story

Women are all winners in Andean competitions
Since 2005, IFAD projects in the Andean region have been holding national and regional competitions that provide recognition and economic support to small-scale businesses run by women’s associations. They also encourage women to share their ideas in public. This way everybody wins: the groups that are awarded prizes, and the other participants, who learn new and better ways to solve problems.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Small-scale farmers become entrepreneurs
Have you ever wondered where the cabbages, potatoes, tomatoes and green beans sitting on supermarket shelves come from? In Mozambique if you shop at Shoprite, Africa's largest food retailer, which has operations in 16 countries, you'll be buying vegetables produced locally by small-scale farmers.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Trading commodities via SMS
Lack of access to reliable and up-to-date market price information is a serious problem for smallholder farmers across Africa. Without this information, they are vulnerable to unscrupulous traders giving them prices at below-market rates. Furthermore, they are reluctant to diversify into different cash crops for fear of not finding a profitable market for their output
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Innovative food bank keeps families together by helping them through the ‘hunger season’
In Niger, a combination of recurrent drought and widespread poverty leaves the most vulnerable people unable to cope when environmental shocks occur.
Source: IFAD
 Read full story

Boosting farmers’ profits through better links to markets
Poor farmers in Tanzania are using mobile phones, e-mail and the Internet to access market information in real time. Market ’spies,’ known locally as shu shu shus, investigate prices and the details of what is selling at local markets, and use their mobile phones to report back to their villages. Soon they might be able to use their phone to access more market information from the Internet. The technology is helping the farmers build better and more collaborative market chains from producer to consumer.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Villagers and aid workers alike benefit from census project in Niger
Poor villagers in the Aguié area of Niger are discovering the many, unexpected benefits of keeping detailed records of their households and assets. As part of a new databank system introduced by IFAD in 2005, local people are developing a detailed census drawn from 27,000 individuals in 22 villages.
Source: IFAD
 Read full story

Training helps octopus fisher build a better life on Rodrigues island
In the decades since Mauritius gained independence in 1968, it has joined the ranks of the middle-income countries. Severe poverty is rare in comparison to other parts of Africa, but there are pockets of poverty in the northern and eastern parts of the island of Mauritius and on Rodrigues Island, which is substantially poorer. An IFAD-funded programme, started in April 2000, is helping more than 15,000 poor smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers and microentrepreneurs diversify their incomes and improve their way of life.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Tree domestication programme in Africa helps families out of poverty
Planting indigenous fruit and medicinal trees has changed the lives of tens of thousands of poor people in rural Africa.  Women are feeding their families, sending their children to school and improving their status at home thanks to a successful IFAD-supported programme.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

A cheese-making business flourishes in rural Armenia
A microcredit loan can make all the difference in transforming a failing small business into a flourishing one. A precarious enterprise run by a widowed mother of three in a remote, post-conflict community of Armenia has become a financially viable business, thanks to a microcredit loan provided through an IFAD-supported project. The business has also stimulated the local economy, providing small-scale dairy farmers with added income.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

How a poor islander became a local leader
Maryline Legoff is a rural entrepreneur. She is 35 years old and a single mother with a 5-year-old son. Maryline lives on the island of Rodrigues, 640 kilometers off the island of Mauritius. For Maryline and the 38,000 people who live on Rodrigues, fishing is a way of life. But their livelihoods are threatened by declining fish stocks.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Moving down from the mountains: a new life in Pa Vi Commune
Two years ago, in 2005, Giang Thi Hoa, 41, and her husband, Li Mi Na, 54, decided to leave their home in the mountains of Meo Vac district, Viet Nam, in search of a better life for themselves and their four children. In the mountains, the family lived in extreme poverty
Source: IFAD
Read full story

How the Kenya Women Finance Trust became a model lender
Sometimes, numbers speak louder than words. Six years ago, the Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) was losing around US$290,000 a year. By 2006, it was posting annual profits of US$1.87 million and changing the lives of more than 100,000 poor women. By any standard, this is a remarkable turnaround. But behind the numbers lies an even more remarkable story. Source: IFAD
Read full story

In Ghana, rewards continue long after programme officially closes
Thanks to an IFAD-supported programme in north-east Ghana, women’s groups are still building their small-scale ruminant-breeding businesses, feeding their families and sending their children to school 13 years on. Their success inspired other women in the region to follow suit. The programme also had a number of spin-off successes, including the development of three improved varieties of cassava, the nation’s staple crop, which led to a nationwide programme for roots and tubers.
Source: IFAD
Read full story

Irrigation project transforms Madagascar’s Mandraré region
A project supported by IFAD to rehabilitate rice production and develop more efficient farming methods in southern Madagascar has transformed the Mandrare basin from a famine-stricken region into a rice-exporting area.
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

IFAD's projects in Madagascar give women more opportunities, but the struggle continues
Women in Madagascar, as in other parts of the developing world, are slowly gaining more economic power through step-by-step involvement in new projects. They have proved to be highly responsible managers, sometimes more so than their male counterparts. Yet despite apparent progress they are still under-represented in the local economy and more often than not they are unaware of their possibilities. 
Source: IFAD
Read full story...

Fishermen’s Futures
The Arabian Sea is one of the world’s richest fisheries, yet until recently fishermen living along its coast in Yemen remained desperately poor. This short video looks at how an IFAD-supported project helped transform poor fishermen into successful fish exporters, who now sell their catch to buyers from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Europe.
Read script

Watch video: Coming up on CNN World Report, 1 April 2007
Quicktime: 56k | 100K | 300K
RealPlayer: 56K | 100K | 300K
Windows Media Player: 56K | 100K | 300K